The second solar eclipse of this year 2010, will be a total solar eclipse taking place on 11th of July 2010. The eclipse will be most visible to the South Pacific area and will almost take a route where there are less populations located.
During this eclipse the totality will last for maximum of 5 minutes and 20 seconds. The precise place is marked below(Co-ordinates : 19.7S & 121.9W). The totality will start at 18:15:15 GMT (UT) and will end at 20:51:42 GMT (UT) as the Moon’s shadow leaves the Earth from south America.
Path of Total Solar Eclipse :
The central line of the eclipse runs across the southern hemisphere of the Earth, mostly traversing through the Pacific Ocean. Although the maximal width of the central line would be some 259 km, it is unlikely that many witnesses will be able to observe it, since the central line hardly kisses any land, other than Cook Islands & Easter Island. If you are really keen (in case you’re an eclipse-chaser) on observing this you will have to take a long journey to the South Pacific and and flock at a preferable island to appease your needs.
With the above GIF animation you can clearly see the areas that are in the umbral and penumbral shadow, yielding a totality and a partial solar eclipse respectively.
The trajectory of the this total solar eclipse falls over Mangaia, which is the oldest island found in the South Pacific Ocean and will continue to go through Cook Islands and world famous archaeological site, Easter Island. After passing these tiny landmasses, the umbral shadow of Moon will enter South America and will hover over the skies of outhern Chile and Argentina prevailing its phase of totality. Since there is also the diamond ring effect being visible towards the end of the totality, it would be an excellent opportunity for anyone to arrange a tour and visit South Pacific to have a life time experience.
Path of Partial Solar Eclipse :
There is also a partial solar eclipse, caused by the Moon’s penumbral shadow and this will be visible to a wider region, which includes Argentina, Chile, Peru & Bolivia. In case you’re unable to make it to any of these countries, still you stand a chance to observe the eclipse if you can be inside a vessel in South Pacific at the same time. At least you may see the partial solar eclipse.
For more details check out this eclipse2010 website and it offers multilingual details about the eclipse in a unique manner.
